Old Beijing, New Beijing
One Day in Beijing follows a young girl and her cat on a trip around the city of Beijing, and Sun’s use of this particular perspective on the city was a key element of why she received a special mention. In their decision, the jury said: “This image-driven book works on two different levels. At first glance, it appears to be a child’s travel guide that follows a little girl and her cat round the city’s landmarks. At closer look, it reveals a subtle critique of the mass building undertaken for the recent Olympic Games, replacing traditional city areas with imposing Western-style buildings—forcing the population into faceless modern apartments. A predominantly black and white book, its flashes of colour depict the protagonist and her real and imaginary adventures throughout the city.”
Sun participated in the Bologna Children’s Book Fair as part of the “Ciao Taiwan” pavilion, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, which aimed to give visitors a more playful look at Taiwan.
Encouraging talent and raising visibility
Every year, the Bologna Children’s Book Fair attracts contestants from around the world, with between two and three thousand illustrators vying for the chance to show off their works. With competition so fierce, admission to the fair provides a sense of recognition to those who make it, and Taiwanese artists have made it every one of the past 16 years. This year Sun Hsin-yu raised the bar with her special mention, but Taiwan’s other five entrants—Liu Hsu-kung, Wang Shu-man, Lin Lian-en, Chen Yu-lin, and Hsu Ming-hong—have also stood out among the 76-strong crowd of accepted illustrators.
The Bologna Ragazzi Awards are given across four categories: Fiction, Non-Fiction, New Horizons, and Opera Prima (for debut works). Each category has one winner and several special mentions. Sun’s category, Non-Fiction, was won by a French artist–writer team and their work Avant Après; other recipients of special mentions came from South Korea, France, and Poland. The ROC Ministry of Culture sponsored the submission of some 13 titles to the awards, with Sun’s One Day in Beijing rising to the top.
Since receiving the special mention, Sun says, she has entered into talks with a French publisher, and is set to follow One Day in Beijing with a similar textless work about Paris.
The Ministry of Culture says that Taiwan’s children’s book market is vibrant and boasts outstanding talent, and that Taiwanese illustrators should be encouraged to take part in the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, taking their place among some 1200 publishers from 75 countries.
The 2015 Bologna Children’s Book Fair ran from March 30 through April 2, 2015.
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